Wingnut Week In Review: Trump Takes “Alt” Out of “Alt-Right”

August 19, 2016

Terrance Heath

Donald Trump’s announcement of his new campaign team completes the process of bringing white supremacists and white nationalists from the extreme fringe into the mainstream of American conservatism and the GOP, which began when Donald Trump started his campaign.

If establishment Republicans were hoping to finally make their candidate see reason, and halt his spiral into electoral oblivion, by finally executing a “pivot” away from his primaries persona, and towards less incendiary, more nuanced general election rhetoric, they were sorely disappointed. It turns out the mercurial, racist, xenophobic, wannabe fascist that enthralled GOP voters was not a facade, behind which waited the “real” Donald Trump, waiting to be revealed to the general electorate. What we saw in the primaries is what the Republicans got for the general election.

Bannon’s history on the far-right fringe goes all the way back to the first Clinton to run for president. He became editor of Breitbart following the death of founder Andrew Breitbart, and enforced a mandate of pro-Trump coverage. He’s also produced a number of far-right documentaries, including: the Sara Palin documentary, Undefeated; the 2010 Michele Bachmann documentary From the Heartland; Occupy Unmasked; and Hope and Change.

Conservative commentator Dana Loesch, who sued Breitbart in 2012, said, “… I Will say that one of the worst, most hellacious years of my life involved this individual. … All I know is that one of the most people on God’s green earth was just instituted as chairman do f the Trump campaign.”

Former Breitbart News spokesman Kurt Bardella said, “It signals a dangerous, even more so, combative and divisive turn. It’s an indication that this campaign, as negative as it has been, is going to be even more so going forward.”

Former Breitbart editor-at large Ben Stein wrote that Bannon stoked white nationalism at the site: “Breitbart has become the alt-right go-to website, with Yiannopoulos pushing white ethno-nationalism as a legitimate response to political correctness, and the comment section turning into a cesspool for white supremacist mememakers.”

Stein has a point. Hatewatch reported in April that Breitbart was serving at the media arm of the “alt-right” movement, known for an antipathy towards mainstream conservatism that burns almost as white hot as its opposition to multiculturalism and immigration. Though the movement has no official ideology, it’s heavily associated with white supremacists, white nationalism, antisemitism, and right-wing populism.

This, actually, is huge. Trump’s who began the process of mainstreaming white supremacy and white nationalism, by adopting the movements rhetoric and retweeting its memes, has now come full circle. “Alt-right” is no longer an alternative to mainstream conservatism. It is fast *becoming*mainstream conservatism. Salon’s Chauncey Devega writes, “At present, the Republican Party is the United States’ largest white identity organization.” This week, Donald Trump took his biggest step yet towards making it so, by taking the “alt” out of “alt-right.”

Pierson isn’t the only Trump surrogate who’s a bit rusty on history. While introducing Trump for a major national security speech, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani apparently forgot all about 9/11. “By the way, under those eight years before Obama came along, we didn’t have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack in the United States,” Giuliani said. “They all started when Clinton and Obama got into office.”

About Terrance Heath

Terrance Heath is the Online Producer at Campaign for America's Future. He has consulted on blogging and social media consultant for a number of organizations and agencies. He is a prominent activist on LGBT and HIV/AIDS issues.